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What does さあ (saa) mean?It's my impression that it is also used as a negative response when someone doesn't want to explicitly state one, but wants to sort of brush you off anyway. For example, asking for something from a counter worker at city hall that they can't provide (or for which it would be bothersome for them to provide). "Would it be possible to mail me another copy of this record?" "さあ。。。"

What's the difference between 話せる and 話す?Fair enough. I have no idea what the "traditional" way to explain things like this is. "え form" or "え row" (if you visualize a kana chart with あいうえお rows and あ、か、さ。。。 columns) is basically what I learned.

Translation - Long sentence, uncertain of the nuanceSince I really have no clue what is most correct, I was planning to just accept the answer which got a clear majority of upvotes from others, but since nobody has upvoted anyone else's answer yet, I'm at a loss as to which to accept… Thanks to all for your answers at any rate.

May16

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Translation - Long sentence, uncertain of the nuancedainichi: The context is an essay about the suffix ~[道]{どう} as in [華道]{かどう} (flower arranging) and [剣道]{けんどう} (fencing) and how it is sometimes used ironically to imply a non-traditional skill, like パチンコ道 (implying a skill in the traditional art of pachinko). At least, I think what that's about. To tell the truth, the textbook it's from, [中級]{ちゅうきゅう}から[学]{まな}ぶ日本語 (第6課), and the class I'm taking that's using it are pretty much kicking my ass.